encyclopediafandomcom-20200222-history
Grave Encounters
Grave Encounters is a 2011 Canadian supernatural horror film, shot found footage style. The footageFOLLOWS THE crew of a paranormal realitytelevision program who lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric hospital in search of evidence of paranormalACTIVITY as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode. Written andDIRECTED by The Vicious Brothers (Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz), the film premiered on April 22, 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival and received mostly mixed reviews. The film was released on August 25, 2011 in select theaters using the Eventful Demand It andVIDEO on Demand viaComcast. The film premiered internationally in Italy via distributor Eagle Pictures under the title ESP Fenomeni Paranormali on June 1, 2011. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film received a cult following[1] and spawned a sequel in 2012. Plot Jerry Hartfield, the producer of Grave Encounters, a famous ghost investigation television series, explains that Grave Encounters was cancelled in 2003 after the fifth episode, when the cast and crew, along with the footage for episode six, mysteriously went missing. The footage was finally recovered in 2010 and brought to Hartfield. In it, the show's host Lance Preston, along with occult specialist Sasha Parker, surveillance operator Matt White, cameraman T.C. Gibson, and fake medium Houston Grey, investigates the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital, where many instances ofparanormal activity have been reported since its closure. After taking a tour of the hospital, the crew begin an overnight surveillance campaign while locking themselves inside. At first, everything is quiet, but soon, strange phenomena begin to occur, such as odd noises, doors automatically slamming shut, and a wheelchair moving on its own. Later, Matt goes missing while retrieving the surveillance cameras. As the team searches for him, T.C. is suddenly pushed from the stairs and injured. The next morning, the group realizes they are unable to leave the hospital. While the group is sleeping again, someone scratches the word "HELLO" into Sasha's back. After the group encounters a young woman in a hospital gown whose face demonically distorts, Houston is separated and killed by an invisible force. Lance, Sasha, and T.C. eventually find Matt in a room, wearing a hospital gown and mentally unstable. As the group leaves the room, T.C. tries to bring Matt with them, but is attacked by a demonic being who drags him into a blood-filled bathtub in which they both disappear. With Matt in tow, Lance and Sasha find an elevator, and Lance goes alone to find a pipe to pry the door open. After taking a pipe, he encounters a demonic patient. Lance panics, flees to the elevator, and pries the elevator door open. He is then attacked by the patient, but Sasha rescues him. Meanwhile, Matt commits suicide by jumping down the elevator shaft. After climbing down a ladder in the shaft to the lower halls, Sasha becomes violently ill and starts coughing up blood. The two stop to rest, and while they sleep, Sasha disappears in a rolling mist. Lance alone wanders down the seemingly endless corridors as his mental health spirals downward. Eventually, Lance encounters a door that appears seemingly out of nowhere, which leads to the secret operating room of Dr. Arthur Friedkin, who had performed unethical experiments on Collingwood's patients. There, he finds evidence of satanic rituals and black magic being performed on the patients. Lance then discovers a small sacrificial altar on the floor, after which he is attacked by Friedkin, who drags him away as he screams, before the camera cuts out. The camera is turned back on, showing Lance alive, though his eye is bleeding from a lobotomy done by Friedkin. He states to the camera, "They say I'm all better now... I can finally go home." The screen then cuts to black, implying that he has now gone mentally insane from his operation. Cast *Sean Rogerson as Lance Preston *Ashleigh Gryzko as Sasha Parker *Merwin Mondesir as T.C. Gibson *Mackenzie Gray as Houston Grey *Juan Riedinger as Matt White *Arthur Corber as Dr. Arthur Friedkin *Bob Rathie as Kenny Sandavol (Caretaker) *Matthew K. McBride as Spiritual Force *Ben Wilkinson as Jerry Hartfield *Alex Timmer as The Tongueless Demon *Eva Gifford as Demon Girl *Michele Cummins as Bathtub Demon *Shawn Macdonald as Morgan Turner *Fred Keating as Gary Crawford *Max Train as Punk Guy *Marita Eason as Punk Girl *Luis Jamer as Javier Ortega Production Grave Encounters was filmed in Riverview Hospital, a mental institute in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It has been the location for a number of other television and film-based productions. The film released on October 18, 2011, on DVD. It came out for full digitalDOWNLOAD on iTunes on December 19, 2011. Critical response Grave Encounters has received mostly mixed reviews from critics. The New York Press granted it the "Scariest Film Since''The Ring",[2] other reviews were not that favorable. The rating website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "fresh" score of 64%.[3] Sequel ''Grave Encounters 2 was released on October 2, 2012. It wasDIRECTED by John Poliquin, and was written by The Vicious Brothers. Category:2011 films Category:English-language films Category:Canadian films Category:Canadian horror films Category:Supernatural horror films Category:Films shot from the first-person perspective Category:Found footage films Category:Psychiatric hospitals in fiction